The Goddess of Destruction
by Father Hulk
Summary: The battle with Myria is over and done with. She has been defeated by Ryu and his friends. Now, 5,000,000 years later, the world had better brace itself for the rebirth of humankind's greatest enemy. PG-13 for language. *ABANDONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE*
1. Prologue

The Goddess of Destruction

by Father Hulk

OPENING WORDS: Greetings, my children! Welcome to my latest story! I have a really good feeling about this one! So let's get going! None of these characters belong to me, nor do they belong to the St. Eva Church. Make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their upright and locked position, and let's go!

PROLOGUE

Obelisk. A tower floating above the cursed red water around Scande, town of the Empire. Blue brick floors ran across what seemed to be open sky, meaning that a stumble could lead to certain death. Monsters lurked around every corner, inside every crack of every wall, and waiting to jump out from the floor to consume anything that moved. An ordinary person wouldn't last five minutes inside this tower of terror. But it was not ordinary people who now slashed and magicked their way through the halls. Not ordinary at all.

A blue-haired youth named Ryu was at the head of the party. He had begun the fight against Zog, the evil king of the dragons, after his home town was ravaged by the Black Dragon army. The perilous struggled he had overcome had given him strength, confidence, wisdom, and power.

Behind him was Nina, the princess of Winlan, country of the Clan of the Wing. Her will to fight and sense of what was good in the world had caused her to join Ryu on his quest to stop the dark dragons.

Third in the party was Bleu, the legendary sorceress. She had been asleep for the previous 5,000 years, but was awakened to help Ryu and his friends bring peace to the world. With powerful magic easily at her command, she was a strong asset to the party.

Bringing up the rear of the expedition was a green, dog-faced creature named Puka. It was actually a thief named Karn combined with three of the other party members. With their powers combined, Puka was perhaps the strongest member of the team.

"The powers of evil grow stronger," Bleu whispered. "The goddess is close."

"I'm not afraid." Ryu said. "I hope none of us are."

"It's not the time to be afraid." Nina assured him. "We're all fearless warriors, just like you."

"Nobody said I was fearless," Ryu replied, "But I _am_ human."

"I'm not." Puka hissed. "At least, not right now."

"Enough with the jokes," Ryu said. "Let's proceed."

As they descended lower and lower into the tower, the monsters grew fiercer and more dangerous, and soon the group began to tire. 

"How much further?" Puka whispered. "My wings are getting sore."

__

"Your search is over…" boomed a female voice, the sound echoing off every stone in the tower, _"I am here!"_

The floor in front of them began to break apart and quake, and as the group stumbled to get back, a tall platform rose out of the center of the cracks, and on it stood a tall, long-haired girl.

"Myria!" Ryu gasped.

Myria laughed. "That's right! You searched for me, and now you've found me! What do you do next, foolish warriors?"

Ryu drew his sword. "Why, we kill you, of course."

Myria snorted. "Do you really think you can pull that off? You're mortals! You don't possess that kind of power!"

"She's right," Nina whispered in Ryu's ear, "She's a goddess. Will we be able to touch her?"

"Give it up, fools!" Myria hissed, as her body slowly transformed into a huge, winged demon. "It's over!"

Ryu gazed up at the demon. "Puka," he said without looking away, "Release fused party members."

Puka slowly began to glow, until a short, agile thief named Karn stood in its place. Karn had the ability to fuse with other members of the group, and he had been in the Puka phase.

Ryu took Nina's hand, and she took Bleu's hand. "Everyone, hold hands! Prepare for the dragon power of Anfini to unite us into Agni!"

In three white-hot blasts of lightning, the friends were united by the great dragon power, Anfini. The members' souls, bodies, and minds fused to create Agni, a huge, griffin-like creature with a brilliant, flowing mane, enormous silver wings, and red eyes with the gleam of power in them. Ryu's mind was dominant in this form.

"All right, bitch," he snarled, "Let's rumble!"

Myria spat a lightning bolt towards Ryu, but he jumped aside with the agility of a cheetah, then lifted off the ground and zoomed towards where Myria was hovering above him. With the strength of the Dragon Lord flowing through him, he opened his eyes wide and cast the Holy Beam from them. Myria held her hand out and absorbed the blast, then flew forward on a collision course with Ryu. Ryu stopped short and grabbed the demon by her neck, but she continued to grin fearlessly.

"Do you really think you can win?" she rasped, then electrified her body, causing Ryu to drop her from his grip.

Myria flew up high, and in her hands a brilliant blade of dark energy was created. With her new weapon, she dove towards Ryu at blinding speed.

With the same speed, Ryu conjured the Holy Blade of the Dragon, and blocked her assault just before she struck home. They locked weapons, glaring at each other, one with demonic eyes, one with dragon. 

Myria took advantage of the moment, and zapped Ryu with her other hand, causing him to reel backwards. She raised her sword and slashed, but he blocked just in time, then flew upwards, leaving her looking up at him before taking flight herself.

"You'll be sorry you ever met with this spell, asshole!" she snarled, and she began forming a huge, dark, swirling ball in her hands. At the same time, a plan began swirling in Ryu's head. Esma, his guardian, had always told him that overconfidence would be the downfall of man. Well, it could be the downfall of demons too, if he planned it accordingly.

"Try blocking this with your sword!" she laughed, hurling the ball at him. He took it full force, and plummeted towards the floor of Obelisk. Myria watched him fall. "Good night!" she called, and after she heard the sound of the impact, she gracefully flew down and alighted next to the unmoving form of Agni.

"Young fools," she whispered, "They try to mess with the goddess of destruction, and this is what they get! Ha!"

The movement was too quick for human eyes to see. Ryu got on his feet, summoned his sword, and slashed across Myria's exposed head. Black blood began spurting from the wound, and the goddess collapsed on her knees.

"You… you trickster!" she croaked. "How dare you! This… this cannot be!"

Ryu released everyone from the fused form, and they stood there, watching the goddess as she began to dissolve.

"Fine… this is fine!" she snarled. "I may have lost now… but know this! I _will _be back! One day… when you don't expect it… I will make a dramatic re-entry into this world! Then all mortals will pay for your deeds! Ah ha ha…ughh…" Her final words were lost as she exploded before them, and a silver mist jumped from her body and spiraled out into nothingness.

Ryu and his group stood for a few moments, breathless, looking at one another.

"Do you really think she'll come back?" Nina asked.

"I doubt it." Karn replied. "We kicked her ass pretty good."

"Don't be so sure," Bleu said. "You can't take everything at face value. She may come back one day."

"Come on, guys, let's go." Said Ryu, putting his sword back in its scabbard. "We've got a lot of cleaning up to do."

And so Ryu and his friends began helping the villages recover what was lost in the bloody war. And the goddess never returned, and they hoped it would remain that way forever. But all good things never last forever…


	2. I

Chapter I

Uneasiness On Earth

The central Jersey police station was very busy. They had been ever since the suicides started. The outbreak of suicides all over the country had begun about five months ago, and was increasing every week.

RING!

"Central Jersey Police, Officer Willie speaking."

"Officer!" said a sobbing woman, "It's terrible! Just terrible!"

"Let me guess," Willie said with a roll of his eyes, "A suicide?"

"Yes! I never thought it would happen in my family! My husband!"

Willie grumbled. He was going to have to document it just like all the others, even though they had already filled up two incident report binders with suicide reports.

"Can I get his name?"

"Charles."

"Charles what?"

"Charles Berman. It was so strange!"

Officer Willie quickly scribbled down the information. "Can you tell me the nature of how he killed himself?"

"He used a gun," the woman said around her crying. "In his bedroom! I never thought he would! He just got so angry all of a sudden, and he would beat me, and scream at me, and then tonight I came home to find him dead in the bedroom!"

"So in reiteration, he became increasingly angry over a short period of time, and then committed suicide tonight, correct?"

"Yes, officer."

"Okay, we'll have someone over to clean up the mess, and if you want, you can come over to speak with someone."

She sniffed. "Thank you, officer."

Willie hung up the phone, then paged the chief on the scanner. "Hey Jimmy! We got another suicide."

"Tell me something new." Jimmy sighed. "Did you document it?"

"Yes, boss."

"Good."

"You know, Jim, I've been reading the periodicals, and this same shit is going on all over the frickin country."

"Suicides?"

"Yes sir. It's so weird. In almost every report, people have been saying that their loved one got so fucking pissed off that they finally put themselves out of their misery."

"That's some freaky shit."

"Yes, sir. Well, I'm on break. See you in an hour."

"Ten four." Jim said.

Willie sat in the Chicken Holiday a few blocks away from the station, watching the small TV they had mounted above the refrigerators, while at the same time stuffing down some spare ribs.

"…And now for our weather report, here's Fox 5's Tom Sanders. Tom?"

"Thanks, Tina. In Kansas and Nebraska today, two tornadoes struck in each state! The twin storms ravaged the lands and tore up houses and trees. Our tornado experts Bill and Jo report that all of the storms today were of the F-5 class.

"Son of a bitch," Willie whispered. "Four of 'em."

Willie sipped his Pepsi and idly watched while a staff member brought the guy opposite him his chicken.

"You look like shit, Frank." He said. The man at the table sighed.

"My wife committed suicide about two weeks ago. I _am_ shit as of right now."

"Dude, that fuckin' sucks!"

"Was she unusually angry before doing it?" Willie offered from across the aisle. The man seemed startled.

"Yes… Yes, she was! How did you know?"

"Charles Koppitman, NJPD. We've been getting suicide reports for months, and they're practically all identical."

"But this has been happening nationwide," Frank said. "Creepy, isn't it? It's like it's the next plague."

These words, for some reason, sent chills down Willie's spine.

"I read that before the Devil comes to take over the world, he makes kind of announcement." Frank continued. "You think this is it?"

Before Willie could answer, his cell phone rang. It was his son.

"Dad," the voice said, "It… it's mom… She… she k-k-k…"

Willie screamed even before his son finished his sentence.


	3. II

II

Despite it being two o'clock in the morning at the FBI, the main building was bustling as if the Son of Sam had returned. An alarming chain of events had thrown everybody into a state of disarray. Among the agents frantically rushing through the halls, two men were quickly running the opposite direction.

"So how many has it been so far?" Jeff asked.

"Just three so far, but even that's too many." Said Adam.

"And how do we plan to explain this to their families?"

Jeff grumbled. "We're going to have to tell them that there _is_ no explanation. That's the only thing we can tell them without lying, right?"

"I guess. But this is some fucked up shit, man. How can some guys just _disappear?_"

"You're asking the wrong guy."

Another man, Phillip, met them near the administration office. "Adam? There's some jerk named Willie on the phone for you."

"Shit…" Adam grumbled. "Fine, I'll take it in my office. Jeff, the investigation department needs that report yesterday."

"Yes, sir."

Adam walked briskly to his office, sat down, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and picked up the extension. "Go ahead."

"My name is Willie, and I work for the NJPD," said the voice on the other end.

"What do you want?"

"You need to get your asses over here." Willie said. "You've heard about the suicides, right?"

"Yes. It's some horrible shit."

"Well, my wife just fucking killed herself, and that's where the line between a job a local police department can handle, and a job that the government needs to handle is crossed."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Willie, but we're too busy here to come out to central Jersey right now."

"Oh really? And just what the fuck has you so busy?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that information." Adam said sharply. "Now I'm going to hang up now. Next time think twice before you call Washington." And he hung up.

On the other end of the phone, Willie swore as he turned his cell phone off. He had been at home for three days straight, crying his brains out. His wife was never an angry person. Their relationship had been the best in the world, as far as he was concerned. And then the anger had started.

He had noticed that she bitched about the smallest things, and screamed at their son for almost no reason at all. But he had never thought she would take her own life.

"Dad," his son whispered, coming into the living room where Willie was lying on the couch, "Have you been watching the news?"

"Fuck the news." Willie grumbled, throwing an empty liquor bottle to the floor. "What is it? More suicides and natural disasters?"

"People are disappearing."

"Hah. Right. Mike, a man just can't _disappear, _just like that. Probably ran away or some shit."

"Dad, one of the people that vanished was a prison inmate that they had attached a homing device to. They've bounced the signal off every satellite on this side of the planet, and they still can't find him."

Willie snorted. "Son, don't take everything at face value. For example," he opened another beer, "I blamed your mother's bitching on PMS, and look what shit I get."

"People have been saying it's the coming of the Devil." Mike continued. "You think it's true?"

"Some jerkoff at the chicken place said the same thing." Willie mused. "But there ain't no Devil. It's just some shit in a book."

"Well, I'm going to services tonight. I'll ask our preacher."

"Whatever."


	4. III

III

The organ continued to auto-play its somber melody as the evening services at the St. Eva Church of Essex, NJ came to a close. Mike quietly put his prayer book back on the cart. Father Manson had spoke about the recent disasters. He had said that there were always times of hardship that occurred over periods of time, and that it was completely natural. But Mike still wasn't satisfied. He slowly wound his way out of the chapel and towards the confessional booths. A young woman emerged from the left-most one, and as he passed her, Mike could see her clutching something in her inside coat pocket. A gun, most likely, he thought with a sigh.

"What troubles you, my child?" asked Father Henry as Mike sat down.

"Is this the coming of the Devil?" he blurted out.

Henry seemed startled. "I'm sorry?"

"I heard that before the Devil comes, he makes a grand announcement of some kind. And I read in the Book of Evans that he has the power to influence people to do harm to others."

Mike could see Father Henry sigh on the other side of the booth. "He has no such power." He finally said. "At least, not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked, sharply.

Henry took a long breath. "It's a long story… quite trivial in today's times, really."

"Tell me." Mike insisted.

"Well, many, many years ago, and I'm talking in the millions here, there was a very powerful devil… she attracted people by…"

"It was a female?" Mike interrupted, astonished.

"Yes. Her name was…" Henry crossed himself before saying it, "Myria. She granted wishes for the weak, and then used their strength to do great harm to the people."

"What ever happened to her?" Mike inquired.

"About five-million years ago, a young man, not unlike yourself, went with his seven companions to destroy her. He succeeded, so now we have nothing to fear from the Devil."

This story did not relieve Mike in the least. "But what about now, Father? What about what's going on everywhere?"

Father Henry smiled. "I call it coincidence. That's all it could be. I'm sorry, but I need to see the next person."

Enraged, Mike got up and stalked out of the church. He gazed up at the moon, wondering why the "omnipotent being" up there wasn't helping. Then his gaze drifted down, under the ground he stood on, and he wondered what was happening down there.

It was 9:15 at night, and most New Yorkers were eating dinner, or relaxing with their families, or having fun out on the town. But that was for the people up on the street. Down in the sewer, there were still men at work. Two men, to be exact. These men were planning on working long past midnight, doing their duty of cleaning out pesky turtles and flies from the sewer pipes.

"Hey, Luigi!" The red-clad plumber called. "I need backup here!"

"I'm comin'." A plumber wearing green clothes sloshed his way over to his brother. "What's up?"

"There seems to be no end to these things," Mario grumbled, swatting at a swarm of flies. "Help me with the turtles while I take care of these annoyances."

"What do you think of all the crap that's happening up there?" Luigi asked, as he swept the turtles out of the pipes and kicked them back in the water. "It's some freaky stuff."

"Yeah, you know? I heard people are disappearing." Mario replied.

"Maybe they 'lost their last life.'" Luigi cracked.

Mario grinned. "That's funny. Is that the same as 'eating a mushroom to get bigger?'"

"Old jokes are the best." Luigi agreed. At that time, he accidentally pressed a stray wire up against the side of the pipe, and a shower of sparks flew out towards him. He ducked just in time.

"I told you to watch out for sparks!" Mario exclaimed, slapping his brother's head. You're as clumsy as…" Mario didn't finish speaking, as a low rumble began from the back of the pipe.

"What the hell?" Luigi whispered. The rumble became louder, and the pipe began to shake.

"I think we should move away." Mario said.

"I think that's a good idea."

The brothers jumped aside just as a huge tidal wave of sewage spewed out of the pipe, flooding the sewer floor and coating Mario and Luigi in icky goo.

"Fuckin' shit! That smells!" Luigi cried. "Yeeeuk!"

"Hey, what's this?" Mario asked, wading over to a lump in the sewage. The lump was actually a small creature that looked sort of like a baby, but it had very few facial features, and its eyes were covered by a fleshy glaze. It had no mouth. It moved, however. When Mario picked it up, it shook and writhed in his arms.

"It's an alien!" Luigi screamed.

"Keep your suspenders on," Mario told him, but in actuality he was just as frightened as his sibling.

Suddenly, Mario turned. "Somebody's coming," he whispered, and he pointed his flashlight down the dark tunnel.

"Who are you?" Luigi called.

"It's okay, it's okay," said a rough voice. "Carl Winslow, NYPD." A tall, sharp-looking police officer appeared. "We heard the pipes rumble, and then my boss remembered that there were still some men down here. Are you guys okay?"

Mario pushed up his hat. "Well, we're fine, officer. But look what we found." 

Carl started as Mario held the creature up to him. "Oh my gentle Jesus," he murmured. "What the _fuck_ is that?"

"We're asking the same thing."

"Is it an alien?"

"That's what I thought it was," Luigi said.

"Shit…" Winslow became frantic. "Um… shit… okay, I'm gonna take this thing above ground, okay? I'll take it to the station, and then I know a science research place, and they'll come and get it. Is that okay?"

"You're the cop, cop."

"Good. You boys did a good job. We don't know what else will come out of here, so you had better go home for now."

Mario and Luigi slapped hands. "Score! We get to leave early!"

Winslow rolled his eyes and began climbing up the ladder, the creature tucked under one arm.


	5. IV

IV

It was early morning in the Arizona desert. The sun was peeking over the rim of the horizon, getting ready for another day of scorching the sands. A light breeze ruffled the flaps of the tents housing the archaeological equipment, and Dr. Alan Grant slowly woke from his slumbers.

He had been here in Arizona for almost five months, uncovering a new stash of skeletons that had been recently discovered. Elle had come with him, and so it was somewhat like the old days, before that……park. It gave Grant shudders every time he recalled that nightmarish place… he was sorry sometimes that he was still working on dinosaurs… he had just about had enough.

The rest of the team was still out cold, and Dr. Malcolm wasn't due to arrive until midday, so Grant got himself a drink of water and decided to get a few more hours of sleep, when a parcel by the radar-digger caught his eye.

"What the fuck…?" he wondered to himself, "This must have come last night." It was a large, clear canister, holding some kind of greenish-brown liquid. If Grant didn't know better, he'd think it was shit.

Turning it over in his hands, he found a label on it that read: "N.Y.C. Sewage Sample. Analyze ASAP. ~M. Bloomberg"

"I hate Bloomberg," he muttered. If it was sewage, then Elle would have an easier time with it than he would.

"Good morning, early bird." said Dr. Sattler, approaching him from her tent. "What's that?"

"Elle, take a look at this." He passed her the container.

"What is it, a shit sample?"

Grant chuckled. "No. It's some kind of sewage from New York. It needs analysis."

Elle smiled. "Well, judging from all the crap that my kids throw out, I can tell you ten things right off the bat that are in sewage. Let's see…"

Grant chuckled again. "That won't be necessary. Come on, let's check this shit out."

Three hours later, Dr. Sattler was bent over a microscope, gently poking a piece of a leaf around.

"This is amazing," she whispered, "This leaf alone is almost 4 million years old."

Grant walked over and looked at the video readout. "And they found it in New York last week?"

"That's what they're saying, although I don't see how."

Grant wiped his forehead. "Well, if they are telling the truth, I'd reason that it probably came up from an old underground spring or something."

"That's not very probable, Alan." Elle said, standing up.

"Do you have any other answer?"

Elle was silent.

Lt. Carl Winslow had brought the shriveled creature to the Manhattan Science Research Lab, where she was placed in a tall glass tank. Over the past week, scientists observed as the creature began to grow miraculously over very short periods of time. At this point in time, it looked like a half human, half slug. It was clearly female, however.

A door opened, and a tall, lean man named Professor Tarkin entered the room. He walked briskly over to another man and whispered in his ear, "John? They need you outside." Both men exited the room again.

"What is it?" John asked.

"John, this is James Dayton, head of National Scientific Research." Tarkin said, introducing another man to John. They shook hands. "James has just received the analysis of the sewage sample we sent to those paleontologists out in Arizona."

"And?"

"And, we found that the sewage was at least four million years old, if not more."

John shook his head. "That's impossible. Nothing in New York is that old. Except maybe the soil."

"We agree." Said James. "And that's why we're here. We want to do a thorough analysis ourselves, and see if that… thing in there is equal in age."

The three men walked down a white hallway to the dark microscope room.

"These microscopes use a lot of magnetism." James said. "We'll need to close the door."

"I'll get it." Tarkin said, and the door closed with a click.

Meanwhile, back in the observation room, the scientists continued to watch the monitors and the creature herself.

"Dude, she's growing before our eyes." one of them said. Indeed, you could clearly see that the filmy layer covering her body was slowly peeling away, leaving her naked in full human form.

"Um, should we get her some clothes?" A man named Dale asked. The others slapped him.

"What are you crazy?" they said with a laugh. "Hey Bob, go get a camera."

"Come on, you guys, be serious. She might shoot laser beams at us or something." Dale joked, pretending to shiver.

While the men laughed, the girl glared at them through the glass, the waters of hatred boiling in her eyes.

Two hours later, the door of the microscope room opened again, and John and Tarkin walked out, followed by James.

"I'm telling you there's a mistake." John protested.

"That equipment doesn't make mistakes, my friend." James countered. "What you're looking at," he raised the sewage canister, "is bona-fide five-million-year-old sewage material."

"Impossible! Nothing that old even exists anymore!"

James shrugged. "Hey, if you want to spend another $25 million to buy new microscope equipment, that's fine by me, but I'll guarantee that you'll get the same result."

Tarkin took a deep breath. "So…? Now what?"

"Now we run an analysis on the creature. If she's as old as this shit, then we're looking at a pure miracle of science."

John grumbled. "I've had enough miracles for one day."


	6. V

V

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Tarkin snapped as he re-entered the laboratory. The scientists were oogling the girl, who was simply standing there glaring at them. "It's not like you've never seen a naked woman before!"

The men quickly attempted to divert their gaze from the tank.

"Next order of business," Tarkin continued, "Is to run an analysis on her skin, to see if she is as old as the sample we collected last week."

"How old was the sample?" Dale asked.

"Five million years old."

The scientists cracked up. "You mean as old as my mother?" asked a man named Terrance. Tarkin glared at him.

"We just came back from the microscope room," he said curtly, "And if you want we can all take a fucking field trip there so you can see for yourselves. But do not doubt me when I tell you that this sewage is five million years old." 

Tarkin looked over the men, trying to find someone dependable. "Dale!" He finally said, "Get your ass over here." When Dale was standing before him, Tarkin said, "I want you to enter the tank and attach these cords to the subject. One on her shoulder, one on her head. Don't let her touch you."

"Yes sir." Dale said, and obediently took the cords and unlocked the door to the tank. He warily approached the girl, who had turned and was scowling at him. He cautiously reached out his arm to attach the cord, and in one swift movement, she punched him across the face, knocking him to the floor.

"What the hell is she doing??" Terrance screamed.

The girl seized Dale by his neck and yanked him off the ground, and slamming him against the glass of the tank.

"You will pay…" Dale croaked.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Tarkin whispered. Then to Dale he called, "Dale! I thought you loved girls being rough with you."

"I shall get rough with you all!" Dale snarled. "Everybody will pay!"

James scratched his head. "I think she's talking through him somehow."

Tarkin took the initiative. "Who are you?" he asked.

The girl smiled as Dale rasped her answer. "I am the Goddess of Destruction."

"Goddess???"

"Yes… I come from days of old to seek revenge!"

Tarkin broke into a sweat. "Revenge on who?"

"Everybody."

There was a cold silence.

"And what is your name?" Tarkin finally asked.

"My name is Myria. And all of this world will suffer."

The men scrambled to the exit, but Tarkin stopped them, then continued to interrogate the girl. "Where do you come from?"

"I come from the lands beyond. Nobody living will be among the survivors."

The men raised their eyebrows. "The survivors of what?"

Instead of answering, Myria grinned and threw Dale to the ground, then stood there, doing nothing.

"Uh, John, we're starting to get some strange readings on this equipment." Said James.

Machines began to beep all over the room, and Myria started to glow, faintly at first but increasingly brighter. Fires began to break out from the equipment, and the ceiling began to fall.

"Um, boss, I think we need to leave now."

"I think that's a good idea."

The men bolted towards the door, but were too late. The entire lab erupted in an explosion of fire, and everybody inside perished. If you had looked closely, you could see a dark shadow rising from the fire and hovering above the destruction. As the fire trucks arrived, the shadow zoomed into the night.


	7. VI

VI

The Mobile Command Center in New Jersey was bustling with activity… but then again, it always was. Officers ran this way and that, monitoring the land, sky, and water around Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey.

A group of men marched up to a tent on the east side of the compound and saluted. As they did, a tall, but stocky man named Hicks emerged from the tent.

"Gimme your regular reports please." Hicks said.

"Everything's normal," said Sgt. O'Neil. "Absolutely nothing to report."

Hicks smirked. "One thing you should learn about this city is that there is _always_ something to report. Do you have the data on that mass fight down in the subway?"

"Yes sir." O'Neil said. "And it was resolved very quickly thanks to Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels."

Hicks's face turned sour. "I hate Sliwa," he muttered. Before he could speak again, a massive crash rocked the tent and sent boxes and personnel tumbling to either side.

"What the hell was that?" Lt. Dan cried. Another boom had the same effect, and the base began to panic.

Hicks looked out across the Hudson towards Manhattan, and was aghast to see orange flames spurting up all over the place, followed by more quakes and crashes.

"Somebody better tell me what the fuck is going on!" Hicks screamed, scrambling to get out of the tent. "This had better not be the A-rabs again!"

"It's not, sir!" said Dr. Kravin, tripping over some barrels, "It appears that this was entirely unintentional!"

Hicks snorted. "Yeah, okay. Then tell me what the hell caused it." Kravin was silent.

More crashes continued to rock the base, and everyone could see flames shooting sky high from the island of Manhattan.

Suddenly, an unkempt young man in a leather jacket and baseball cap came running up to Hicks.

"Who the fuck are you?" Hicks asked.

"My name is Jimmy." The man said. "And we, er, uh, got something that might shed some light on this whole thing." He looked around him, then called, "Freddie! Freddie! Get over here!"

"Jimmy!" said another man, running over, "You know that bad feeling I always get when something really bad is gonna happen? I got that feeling right before this shit, man."

"Whatever!" Jimmy said, rolling his eyes, "Just show him the tape!"

"Oh yeah…" Freddie took a tape out of a camcorder and quickly shoved it in a nearby TV. Everybody watched as Times Square showed up on the screen. Then, right before their eyes, flames jumped up out of the ground, and the earth began shaking.

"It's like it just happened by itself!" Hicks exclaimed. "But what the fuck? This sort of shit doesn't just _happen!"_

As the blaring of fire trucks and rescue workers made their way towards the city, the emergency phone in the main trailer rang.

"I'll get it." Said Sgt. O'Neil. He dashed inside and picked it up. "NJMCC, O'Neil here."

"O'Neil, my name is Bob Tarkin, I'm with the Manhattan Science Research Lab."

"So you're safe?"

"No. In fact, our lab was destroyed last night in a very similar fashion to the destruction now occuring."

"So do you have any info or not?" O'Neil snapped.

"Despite how ludicrous this may sound, we have reason to believe that this destruction is being caused by one of our creatures that escaped last night."

O'Neil laughed. "Yeah, right, buddy. What kind of animal could be causing _this?_"

"As a matter of fact," Tarkin said smoothly, "It's not so much an animal as it is a person. We were studying a girl that evolved from a creature we found in the sewer, and she had claimed to be a goddess or something."

This made O'Neil laugh harder. "Yeah, right. And I'm Al Pacino."

"I too find it hard to comprehend," Tarkin conceded, "But again, we keep coming back to the connection between how our lab was destroyed and how Manhattan is being destroyed. Would you call it a coincidence?"

O'Neil fidgeted with the phone cord. "So where is this 'subject' now?"

"I told you, she escaped." Tarkin said. "However, I believe that if the military is capable of hunting down and finding the girl, they should do so to prevent further disaster."

O'Neil became firm. "So you want to divert our efforts, based solely on some 'goddess' theory?"

"Yes."

O'Neil sighed. "Let me talk it over with my superiors."

"Very well. I thank you for your time."

After a two-hour-long meeting, and having Tarkin on conference phone with the heads of the base, it was finally decided that the subject posed to big a threat to the city, and that it must be captured. And so, the tanks, planes, and jeeps were loaded up, and after each man earnestly crossed himself, they deployed to go and find Myria, Goddess of Destruction!


End file.
